can’t wait
Monday night, Chicago—Millenium Park.
Amadou & Mariam (feat. Manu Chao), “Senegal Fast Food,” 2004
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lagniappe
random thoughts
The story we tell ourselves of who we are is just that—a story we tell ourselves of who we are.
sounds of Mali
Salif Keita, live, Germany (Stuttgart), 1995
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lagniappe
reading table
[C]ommunication is an undependable but sometimes marvelous thing.
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), letter to Randall Jarrell, December 26, 1955
what’s new
Oumou Sangaré, “Kamelemba,” 2017
what’s new
Oumou Sangaré (feat. Tony Allen, drums), “Yere Faga,” 3/30/17
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lagniappe
reading table
First cherry blossoms
just came out
pretty good day!—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by David Young
sounds of Mali
Salif Keita, live, London, c. 2002
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lagniappe
reading table
What one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration.
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), letter
sounds of Mali
Toumani Diabate (kora), live, Switzerland (Geneva), 2013
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like clouds drifting apart,
a wild goose separates, for now,
from his friend—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by David Landis Barnhill
more
Habib Koite, “Wassiye,” live
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York)
Stuart Davis (1892-1964), “Swing Landscape,” 1938
sounds of Mali and South Africa
Twelve strings, two voices—that’s it.
Habib Koite (Mali; lead vocals, guitar), Vusi Mahlasela (South Africa; vocals, guitar), “Africa,” live (studio performance), Seattle, 2016
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lagniappe
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Deep autumn—
my neighbor,
how does he live, I wonder?—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Robert Hass
sounds of Mali
Salif Keita, live, Switzerland (Winterthur), 2013
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lagniappe
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she keeps the nest
nice and neat . . .
widow bird—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
another take
Africa Express, “Terry Riley’s In C Mali,” live, London (Tate Modern), 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
I wouldn’t try to capture it
on the page, or in a blog, the inauspicious
leavings of a day. Closer to dream
than the hum of streets, and people
who once walked along them.—John Ashbery (1927-), “Gravy for the Prisoners,” excerpt (Breezeway, 2015)
music clip of the day 